Sisters of the Vast Black is a 2019 sci-fi novella by Lina Rather. It features a group of nuns travelling through space who eventually discover a conspiracy.
Tropes include:
- Advert-Overloaded Future: Sister Faustina opens a message from a colony, only to be bombarded with advertisements about food, ship repair and a moon base.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: They are in space, after all.
- And I Must Scream: The ringeye victims.
- The Atoner: The Reverend Mother, for her crimes during the war.
- Badass Pacifist: The nuns.
- Big Damn Heroes: The nuns go back to save the colonists at the end.
- Butch Lesbian: Vauca, Sister Gemma's lover.
- Foreshadowing: The Reverend Mother, it turns out, has a very good reason for not speaking.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The ringeye cure
- The "vaccinations" that the colonists mention to the nuns
- Vauca's ship, the Cheng I Sao
- Chekhov's Gunman: Mrs. August, of Radio Terra
- Cool Starship: ''Our Lady of Impossible Constellations''.
- Crapsack World: Post-war Earth, by all accounts.
- Death Seeker: The Reverend Mother, for years after the war.
- Elective Mute: The Reverend Mother has taken a vow of silence. She breaks it in the finale to get the Cheng I Sao past the Central Governance.
- Fighting from the Inside: The infected colonists. And presumably anyone else with ringeye.
- Food Porn: The description of the colonists' meal on Phoyongsa III.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Reverend Mother stays on the ship to distract the Central Governance.
- The Medic: Sister Lucia
- Living Ship: There are sentient ships that can breed and make baby ships.
- Most Writers Are Writers: Sister Lucia is in the process of writing a biography when they land on Phoyongsa III. She tears it up out of frustration.
- The Needs of the Many: According to Father Giovanni, once the outbreak happens. The nuns are having none of it, however.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Anyone affected by ringeye, a disease from the last days of the war. Sister Gemma and Sister Lucia are trying to find a cure for it, using antibodies from the ship.
- Precision F-Strike: By Vauca, in reaction to Earth Central Governance not letting the nuns land on Phoyongsa III.
- The Reveal: Earth Central Governance intentionally infected the colonists as part of their plan to regain power.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The nuns ignore the Central Governance and go back for the colonists anyway.
- The Stoic: Sister Faustina, apparently. Until they receive the distress call.
- Two Aliases, One Character: Mrs. August, of Radio Terra, is none other than the Reverend Mother.
- War Is Hell: Said almost word-for-word by the Reverend Mother.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Lampshaded.The escape pod with Father Giovanni was nowhere to be found, and it was anyone’s guess where he had gone.
- Wrench Wench: Vauca
- She was one small part of an infinity, and there was much to be done.
